Choice
by Artimus Knyght
Summary: Life is full of choices, both life altering and insignificant, from what you want for breakfast in the morning, to what you want to do with your life. Jenny Shepard knows this well having made a lot of them. Rated for safety.


So I was watching Terra Nova and they said about something that happened in one of the characters pasts and I could not stop thinking about Shepard being in the same position. Please don't hate me for this.

This is a one shot and it is staying a one shot.

Choice

Life is full of choices, both life altering and insignificant, from what you want for breakfast in the morning, to what you want to do with your life. Jenny Shepard knows this well having made a lot of them. She chose to join the Alliance, she chose to fight Saren and the Reapers, she chose to destroy all Synthetic life to destroy the Reapers, but most importantly, she chose to be with Liara and start a family with her, she chose to retire from the Alliance after the war, she chose to move to a town on Eden Prime and join the local 'Militia', and when an organisation reared up and began taking over the colonies, she chose to let someone else save the Galaxy, she has done her part; it is a choice she will later come to regret.

She is on patrol when they come. She fights with every ounce of her being, lasting for hours, but she is outnumbered and outgunned, and when they start shelling the town from a distance, Shepard, bruised and tired, finally surrenders.

Her hands are tied behind her back, just as every other soldier's hands are, and she is dragged to the edge of the town. She is brought before the leader, an evil man who grins maliciously at her before giving a short nod at the Turian holding her. He grunts and drags her back, all the soldiers are dragged back until they are in a line, and then the evil man steps forth and speaks.

"Ladies and Gentleman, soldiers one and all," his drawling voice carries across the distance, "you have fought bravely and honourably and for that I commend you, but I must also punish you," here he pauses, something gleaming in his eyes that makes Shepard scared. It is excitement, anticipation, mixed with an unhealthy dose of insanity, "I'm thinking a little population control should suffice."

Immediately his soldiers enter the town, searching for the people who live there, and it doesn't take long to hear the first screams. There aren't that many people on Eden Prime, even now all these years after the war, and their little town in the middle of nowhere boasts barely five hundred, around a third of them in the 'militia'. Soon the soldiers are returning, dragging civilians behind them, some of them coming quietly, some of them kicking and screaming. Shepard begins scanning the prisoners, looking for her family, wishing more than anything that she won't see them, her heart dropping into her stomach when she does, Liara being pushed forward while holding onto their fourteen year old daughter, Serena.

The civilians are lined up across from the soldiers, Liara and Serena are placed directly across from Shepard, both looking just as scared as she feels, not sure what is happening. Shepard can only sag in hopelessness. She can see no way out of the situation they have been placed in. The evil man clears his throat.

"Ok soldiers, here's the deal, you get to choose who lives and dies," at the horror etched on the colonists faces he smiles, "that's right, each of you get to pick a person to save. Just. One. Person. Everyone who doesn't get picked will be executed. Choose now."

There's a cacophony of noise as the soldiers around her start shouting out names, directing the soldiers to who to take out of the line. The soldiers start moving to do just that. Shepard freezes, she can't chose, not between her Bondmate and her child, she can't, they can't make her, she can't be responsible for either of their deaths. The evil man steps up to her.

"Ahh, the Great Commander Shepard," that insufferable smile is still on his face, he basks in the misery around him, "what's the problem Commander? Having trouble choosing?"

"You can't make me choose," she states and he shakes his head, moving forward to look her directly in the eye.

"I can and I am," he whispers, "now choose." She shakes her head, her eyes starting to glisten and she's reduced to begging.

"Please," she begs quietly, "please don't make me choose." He stares at her for a while before sighing.

"You have a choice Shepard," he says, stepping away from her, "choose or I choose for you, and if that happens I'll kill them both. NOW CHOOSE!" he suddenly yells, his patients wearing thin. By this time the other soldiers have all made their choices, she is the only one left to choose. She looks at Liara who is holding their daughter close. Liara's blue eyes swimming with unshed tears.

"Jenny …" she starts but Shepard shakes her head.

"I can't Liara, I can't choose between you," Liara lifts her head slightly, a determination entering her eyes.

"Jenny, we both know who you have to choose," Shepard opens her mouth but Liara carries on, "save her Jenny, please save our daughter."

"I can't be responsible for your death Liara. I can't kill you," tears are starting to make their way down both women's cheeks.

"You won't love," Liara sniffs, "always remember that."

"Times up Shepard," the evil man says, having heard the whole exchange, "are you going to choose, or am I."

"Serena, I choose Serena, I choose my daughter," Shepard chokes out and a soldier walks forth and grabs Serena. Her daughter is crying, screaming, as they tear her away from her mother and drag her over to the other civilians who have been 'saved'.

"Begin the executions," the evil man orders. The soldiers force the civilians who are left to their knees, around a third of the colony, Liara amongst them. They lift their pistols and aim them at the back of the prisoners' heads. Tears still streaming from their eyes, Liara and Shepard look at each other. Liara mouths 'I love you' to Shepard and then multiple shots break the eerie silence that had fallen. Shepard can only watch as Liara's body hits the floor, lifeless, dead. She falls to her knees then, her world falling apart around her, barely registering her daughter's wails of grief.

Shepard had never prepared herself to lose Liara. In fact they had both long ago come to terms with the fact that Shepard would die first. She has always imagined that she would spend the rest of her life with Liara, but now, because of this, she will live the rest of her life without her.

The evil man is clapping nearby, smiling and happy. Shepard glares at him, feeling hatred rise within her, consume her. Here is the man responsible for the death of one of the only people she has ever cared about. Shepard's resolve hardens then, as she looks at him, and she swears to herself that she will make him pay. Somehow, someway, she will make him pay.

* * *

As I said, please don't hate me for this. I hate writing stories like this, it felt like I was carving out my own heart with a spoon, but I needed to get it out of my head.


End file.
